CALLER: Okay, a lot of people — and you hear it on the media and everything of everybody talking about the debate and who can beat Obama in the debate.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: Why is that so important when everything in the last election that he debated he was supposed to be so great, and everything has turned out to be a lie, and the media and the powers that be — nobody — even cares or — or checks his facts or anything.

RUSH: (clapping)

CALLER: So does that mean you have to be the best liar to win the debate?

RUSH: (clapping) This is the equivalent of a host standing ovation here, folks. (clapping) You are right on the money. It ought not matter, but I’ll tell you why it does. You called to find out why it matters, and I’m gonna tell you.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Republican voters are sick and tired of their candidates sounding stupid. They’re sick and tired of their candidates looking stupid, deer-in-the-headlight-eyes stupid. They’re sick and tired of the media making fun of their candidates for looking and sounding stupid, and say the only thing that matters to some of them is somebody that can talk. It doesn’t even really matter what they’re saying. Just somebody that can talk because that way they won’t be embarrassed.

CALLER: It’s unreal that we —

RUSH: I’m telling you, it’s visceral. It is not oriented toward issues. You and I — and I know, Joy, you know this.

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: On the presidential level, the debates are not that big a factor in who wins. There’s another thing that goes into it. There is an assumption people have been fed that Obama’s brilliant, and they hate that. They hate this idea that Obama’s brilliant because, as you say, they know he lies; they know the media helps him get away with lying; they know he’s wrong about every thing, so how damn smart could he really be?

CALLER: That’s what I think.

RUSH: So they want somebody that can run rings around Obama on the IQ scale just ’cause they’re sick and tired of eight, 16 years of Republicans being perceived as stupid, idiot hicks — and that’s the best I can do.

CALLER: Well, I appreciate your explanation, and I agree with you. That’s probably what it is.

RUSH: Well, there’s no probably about it.

CALLER: No, that’s right. If you say it, it is.

RUSH: Well, ’cause I’ve heard ’em say it!

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: I’ve got people e-mailing me about it. I hear this frequently. One of the reasons people think Romney’s electable is because they think he’ll do well against Obama in the debates, and one of the reasons people were a little afraid of Cain is they didn’t think they would do well in the debates. Ugh! That and there are a couple other things that are equally as frustrating to me, but that’s the basic answer. It’s simply people are tired, Republican voters are tired of their candidate being made fun of and laughed at ’cause they’re stupid hicks — when they’re not, but they’re characterized that way. So they want somebody who isn’t so that can’t be said about them. It’s no more complicated than that.